Hydroformylation is a term used in the art to denote the reaction of an olefin with CO and H.sub.2 to produce an aldehyde/alcohol which has one more carbon atom then the reactant olefin. Strictly speaking hydroformylation of an olefin produces an aldehyde. However, in many reaction processes the catalyst utilized to produce the aldehyde also reduces the aldehyde to the alcohol. In other cases a separate catalytic reduction step is utilized to reduce the aldehyde to the alcohol. Frequently, in the art, the term hydroformylation is utilized to cover the aldehyde and the reduction to the alcohol step in total, i.e., hydroformylation refers to the production of alcohols from olefins via carbonylation and an aldehyde reduction process. As used herein, hydroformylation refers to this production of alcohols as well as aldehydes from olefins.
The Dimersol Process is a catalyzed liquid phase oligomerization of lower olefins, particularly propylene and butylene. The catalyst is formed by reacting a nickel compound with a hydrocarbyl aluminum halide. The primary product is the dimer with smaller amounts of the trimer and tetramer being present. General discussion of the Dimersol Process can be found in Hydrocarbon Processing, Vol. 89, pp 143-149, May, 1980 and Vol. 91, pp 110-112, May, 1982. The higher oligomers are quite useful for converting to alcohols which can then be utilized as intermediates to produce detergent and lubricant products.